1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cleaning disc cartridge adapted to remove, from a magnetic head, an optical lens or the like incorporated in an information receiving and reproducing system such as an optical disc apparatus, a magneto-optical disc apparatus or the like, any foreign matter or pollutant such as dust, shavings or the like adhered thereto to clean it and be effectively applicable to cleaning of both an information recording and reproducing apparatus and a reproduction-only apparatus exclusively used for reproduction of information, and more particularly to a cleaning disc cartridge for an optical disc apparatus or an optical-magnetic disc apparatus which includes both a lens cleaning member and a head cleaning member and is applicable to not only an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus including a magnetic head and a lens but an information reproducing apparatus exclusively used for the reproduction.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional cleaning disc cartridge includes a disc-like cleaning sheet formed into the same configuration as a conventional disc such as a magnetic disc or a magneto-optical disc. The cleaning sheet is rotated while being contacted with a magnetic head or a lens, to thereby clean it. The cleaning sheet used for cleaning the magnetic head comprises a disc coated with an abrasive or a water absorbing disc impregnated with a cleaning liquid. A foreign matter adhered to an optical lens incorporated in an optical information recording and reproducing system utilizing laser beams is removed by means of a cleaning disc having a brush provided on one surface thereof to keep the head or lens clean.
Unfortunately, cleaning of an objective lens for an optical pickup and a magnetic head incorporated in an information recording and reproducing system using a magneto-optical disc cartridge must be carried out separately using a cleaning disc member exclusively used for the lens and that a cleaning disc member exclusively used for the head, therefore, the cleaning is highly troublesome. In view of the problem, it would be considered to provide a disc with both a cleaning member for the lens and a cleaning member for the head to concurrently clean the lens and head. However, such arrangement of both cleaning members on the disc adversely affects an inventory region and an information recording and reproducing region defined on the disc to cause an error in reading of a signal. Also, such an approach only permits the cleaning disc to be applicable to an information recording and reproducing apparatus including an objective lens and a magnetic head but fails to permit it to be applicable to a reproduction-only apparatus exclusively used for reproduction of information which includes only an objective lens.
Also, there has been conventionally known a cleaning disc which includes a brush-like cleaning member made of fine fibers bundled and provided on a surface thereof opposite to a pickup lens, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43386/1989. Also, a cleaning disc of another type is conventionally known in the art which includes a brush-like cleaning member made of a warp of a woven fabric or a weft thereof depending on a direction of mounting of the member on the cleaning disc. Further, a cleaning disc including a brush-like cleaning member formed of cotton, wool or the like embedded on a surface of the disc is likewise known in the art.
Unfortunately, the conventional cleaning discs described above each fail to exhibit satisfactory endurance because the cleaning member or brush readily falls or expands at a tip end thereof in all directions, leading to rapid deterioration in cleaning function. Also, such deformation of the brush is often judged to be abnormality occurring on a surface of the disc and causes fillings thereof to protrude into a region of the disc adjacent to a skip region thereof, leading to a failure in slip operation of a player.
Also, for the purpose of removing any foreign matter or pollutant such as dust or the like adhered to an optical lens incorporated in an information recording and reproducing system of the optical type, a lens cleaner is proposed which includes a disc and a brush provided on one surface of the disc for removing the foreign matter or pollutant. The lens cleaner for the optical disc player or apparatus is not adapted to be used while being received in a cartridge, therefore, it is not required to consider deformation of the brush. However, a cartridge-type lens cleaner wherein a disc mounted thereon with a brush made of nylon fibers is semipermanently housed in a cartridge shell causes the brush to be deformed, to thereby fail to remove a foreign matter or a pollutant such as dust, dew or the like adhered to the optical lens of the optical disc player, resulting in failing to exhibit a satisfactory cleaning function or causing optical performance of the optical disc player to deteriorated. It may be considered that the brush could be formed of a fiber material increased in elasticity or hardness, however, the fiber material substantially abrades an inner surface of a cartridge shell contacted therewith to cause production of white powder with the, resulting cleaning by the brush being highly deteriorated.
Further, a cleaning disc is conventionally proposed which includes a disc body and a cleaning member made of a nonwoven fabric material and applied to a surface of the disc body opposite to a magnetic head of an information recording and reproducing apparatus for cleaning the head, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 102013/1988. Alternatively, the cleaning member may be formed of an abrasive applied to the surface of the disc body, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 60424/1983. The former cleaning member made of a nonwoven fabric exhibits a favorable cleaning function with respect to a plane surface of the head but fails to satisfactorily clean a narrow recess on the head. Also, it fails to be evenly contacted with the head because the non-woven fabric has some roughness inherently formed thereon and causes an adhesive used for the nonwoven fabric to the disc body to be adhered to the head as well, leading to occurrence of an error during operation of the recording and reproducing apparatus. The latter cleaning member made of an abrasive is adapted to abrade the magnetic head, to thereby clean it. Unfortunately, abrasion of the head produces dust, which often leads to damage to the head. Also, when the latter cleaning member is arranged on the disc body which comprises a small-sized magneto-optical disc, the disc is operated in a magneto-optical disc apparatus while being contacted with not a magnetic head but a head holder. Unfortunately, this causes the abrasive of the cleaning member to abrade the head holder, resulting in abrasion of the magnetic head.
In general, a disc cartridge is transported, stored and sold while being kept in a casing. Such a casing conventionally used for this purpose is formed of a transparent material and includes a casing body of a rectangular shape in which a disc cartridge or a disc cassette is received and a cover of a rectangular shape openably or pivotally mounted on the casing body. Also, the conventional casing is provided therein with a plurality of support elements in a manner to be opposite to each other and elastically deformable, resulting in interposedly supporting the cartridge therebetween. A lens cleaner of the disc cartridge type, as described above, causes a disc provided with a brush to be semipermanently received in a cartridge shell, so that the brush is deformed to a degree that prohibits the removal of a foreign matter or pollutant adhered to the lens. In particular, as shown in FIG. 24, when a disc 100 mounted thereon with a brush 102 is held through support elements 104 in the casing 106 while being received in a cartridge shell 108 and kept facing down, a weight of the disc 100 causes the brush 102 to be pressed against an inner bottom surface of the cartridge shell 108, resulting in the brush 102 being subject to deformation such as bending, settling or the like. Thus, the conventional casing for the cleaning disc cartridge substantially fails to permit the cleaning disc to exhibit a satisfactory function as a magneto-optical disc widely and commonly used in an information recording and reproducing apparatus using laser beams.